Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

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flatiron
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Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

How do I scan for malware? I saw several clamwin things on the Apps library, but which should I use? What do I use to stop hacking and all malware?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by all41 »

Last edited by all41 on Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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WharfRat

Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by WharfRat »

flatiron wrote:What do I use to stop hacking and all malware?
Continue using Linux Mint :wink:
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by BG405 »

WharfRat wrote:Continue using Linux Mint :wink:
Exactly. I've never used AV programs on Linux and I'm sure others will comment on the lack of necessity for such; in fact AV software is potentially detrimental to Linux system security as such software is a target in itself.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Jim Hauser »

Do what I do.... nothing!

You do not need to really worry about using an antivirus or anti-malware while properly using Linux Mint. In fact, using an them with Mint is probably not a good idea.

My only security for the past 3 1/2 years has been a Cisco firewall/router and Linux Mint itself (and throw in common sense.)

In my experience, I have yet to hear anyone say anything about being infected with a virus or malware while using Mint.

Relax and enjoy the ride....
Last edited by Jim Hauser on Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Faust

Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Faust »

Many newcomers to GNU/Linux are surprised , and even shocked , at the lack of AV .
So they do some background reading ( which is always a good thing ) and see things like Clam , Bitdefender for Linux , Sophos for Linux etc.
But these are not intended for the average home user in any way .

Most of the world's servers run Linux ( as do most supercomputers ) and the bulk of their work is delivering web pages to Windows users ,
and that is where those products become useful .

When ClamAV is run on a Linux system , the result is likely to be a bunch of false positives which only serve to baffle or alarm the user .
This is particularly noticeable if Wine is installed on the system , and ClamAV is flagging Wine components as potentially malicious for a Windows system .
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by jimallyn »

Relax, this isn't Windows. I have been using Linux for 15 years, with no antivirus, and have never been infected with any virus or malware. Nor has any Linux user that I know. I won't say that it can't happen, just that I've never seen it or heard of it. Pjotr has written about using antivirus software on Linux:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... t/security

PS: you don't need to worry about defragging, either.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

There was an issue a long while back where your enitre linux system could be jacked.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Moem »

Without more information than that, it's impossible to comment on what happened and whether a virus scanner would have helped here.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

Also, can it be a security risk if you forget to close your software manager while using the net?
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Pjotr »

flatiron wrote:Also, can it be a security risk if you forget to close your software manager while using the net?
No.
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Faust

Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Faust »

flatiron wrote:There was an issue a long while back where your enitre linux system could be jacked.
I reckon that you are safe regarding that one ....
.... as are the rest of us 8)

Remember that Mint has an outstanding update system .
As an example , the recent case of wifi vulnerabilities ( WPA ) was fixed very rapidly
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

"Mono is present by default in Linux Mint. In Ubuntu and Debian, Mono will be installed automatically whenever you install an application that needs the Mono infrastructure, like media player Banshee and notes app Tomboy. I advise to avoid those and install non-Mono based alternatives instead."


??????????
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Pjotr »

flatiron wrote:"Mono is present by default in Linux Mint. In Ubuntu and Debian, Mono will be installed automatically whenever you install an application that needs the Mono infrastructure, like media player Banshee and notes app Tomboy. I advise to avoid those and install non-Mono based alternatives instead."


??????????
Apparently a quote from my web page about security in Linux Mint and Ubuntu. Why didn't you also quote the explanation that I give on that web page about my Mono advice?

For others who read this, this is the explanation on that same web page:
The same objection is valid for the Mono infrastructure, albeit to a lesser degree. Mono also makes your system partially vulnerable to malware that targets Windows, because it's cross-platform (like Java).
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... your-Linux
(item 5, right column)
Last edited by Pjotr on Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:07 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Moem »

flatiron wrote:??????????
If you want answers, it helps to ask a question.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

I read that part. But what do you do if you have MINT which has mono? Do I need security suite now? And what if I install PlayOnLinux or Wine?
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Pjotr »

flatiron wrote:I read that part. But what do you do if you have MINT which has mono?
From the same web page: I advise to remove Mono:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove mono-runtime-common
Do I need security suite now? And what if I install PlayOnLinux or Wine?
Your choice. Personally, I'm not taking that risk.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by flatiron »

What do I do? "sudo apt-get remove mono-runtime-common gnome-orca" or "sudo apt-get remove mono-runtime-common" ?
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by thx-1138 »

...dd if=/dev/zero...arghhh....ehmm, ok, no :D :wink:

Just do as Pjotr said, and that's all there is to it...

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove mono-runtime-common
Last edited by thx-1138 on Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Antivirus? Security? Clamav or Clamwin or whatever it is?

Post by Cosmo. »

Remove mono-runtime.
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